Some 74% of business schools saw an increase in internship opportunities in 2010; in 2009, 69% of schools reported a decline, according to the MBA Career Services Council, an industry group that monitors global M.B.A. employment.

As an African-American and a recent Harvard graduate, I have found that my day-to-day life loan payments and choosing a job over a non-paying internship is shaped more by my socioeconomic profile (lower middle class) than by my racial one.